McCaffrey pleased with first win

After picking up their first three points of the season, Dundalk manager Seán McCaffrey was understandably delighted with the victory over UCD. Speaking to extratime.ie the Dundalk manager felt his side were full value for the win.

“I thought we deserved to win. I thought for long periods of the game we played good football, we created chances, we were on the front foot for most of the game.

Despite being pleased with the win, the Lilywhites boss knew his side were a tad fortunate to come away with all three points as UCD pressed for that elusive equaliser.

Towards the end, we were sitting too deep and UCD played some very good football, used the ball well and opened us up several times. They got a lot of crosses in from the right side, our left side, which was worrying. We were glad the final whistle went. Another five minutes and we could have got just one point instead of three.”

Chris Shields scored the opening goal on the night which was also Dundalk’s first goal of the season. Despite it being their first goal in four matches, McCaffrey wasn’t relieved but more happy they are off the mark.

“No real relief. It’s early days, there’s nothing won or lost at this stage of the season. What it does is that is gives the players and the supporters confidence and the belief that they can do it. Up until now, we have been creating chances in every game but just haven’t been scoring.

Psychologically it is a great boost. Goals change games, goals change seasons. Very good delivery and a very good finish.”

Captain Shields put in a man of the match performance and McCaffrey spoke about how good his performance was and also a mistake he made during his Ireland underage management.

“He is one of the best midfielders in the league. No question. He is a smashing player. He made a big difference for us last week. You can see his quality from the first whistle. He can affect games and he can play, he can think.  He’s different class.
 

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I was Irish youth manager was not giving him a cap. I had him in for trials, I took him in felt it was too late in the season by the time I realised how good he was, but I am going to do my best to push him on to the 21’s.
 

The penalty was a cause of great debate in Oriel on Friday night however McCaffrey agreed with the referee’s decision.
 

“I said to Darius(Kierans) when it happened, ‘that’s a penalty’, for sure I thought it was . Now I haven’t seen it on the DVD but if it had to be the other way around I would have thought it was a penalty.”

Friday night saw 16 year-old Ben McLaughlin, grandson of Dundalk legend Jim make his debut for the club and McCaffrey could not speak highly enough of the youngster.

“He was fabulous. He has a great pedigree coming from Jim and Paul. He’s got a great temperament, he has got football ability.  He’s a smashing ability. I can’t understand how he hasn’t made the Ireland Under-17 squad.”
 

On his side’s defending, the Monaghan native was delighted with how his back four stood up and held out for the final 20 minutes when under pressure.
 

“Peter Cherrie was outstanding, as was Liam(Burns) and Derek(Foran). They were all excellent. I was nervous because they were getting a lot of possession and putting us under severe pressure. You are always afraid something will happen but I was very impressed and delighted with how we held out.”